THE STEPS
"When you come to the city, seek out the House of Wisdom, for it is the best house, and there you shall do well."
That was what the old people said to the boy when he started on his journey, and he kept the saying well in mind.
"How shall I know the house?" he had asked them; and they answered, "By the look of the steps before the door, and by the number of people who go in and out. More we may not tell you."
The boy pondered these sayings as he journeyed.
"It will be a fine house, no doubt," he said. "I shall know it by its size and splendor; but as for what they said of the steps, I make little of that part."